page_title: Benjamin Franklin
section_title: Constitutional Convention
hierarchical_section_title: Benjamin Franklin / Public life / Constitutional Convention
caption_attribution_description: English: Foundation of the American Government by John Henry Hintermeister.&#91;1&#93; Published by the Osborne company, Newark, N.J. From the painting's copyright description: "Signing of the Constitution. At desk sits Washington watching Gouverneur Morris sign; behind Morris are Roger Sherman, Franklin, Robert Morris, Madison and others, and at right Hamilton and Randolf." Another copyright registration caption for the Osborne print: "Foundation of American government. Committee signing the Constitution, with Washington presiding and Gov. Morris signing papers."
context_page_description: Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSA FRSE was an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading writer, printer, political philosopher, politician, Freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania.
  Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.
context_section_description: When he returned home in 1785, Franklin occupied a position only second to that of George Washington as the champion of American independence. Franklin returned from France with an unexplained shortage of 100,000 pounds in Congressional funds. In response to a question from a member of Congress about this, Franklin, quoting the Bible, quipped: "Muzzle not the ox that treadeth out his master's grain." The missing funds were never again mentioned in Congress.
  Le Ray honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by Joseph Duplessis, which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. After his return, Franklin became an abolitionist and freed his two slaves. He eventually became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.
  In 1787, Franklin served as a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention. He held an honorary position and seldom engaged in debate. He is the only Founding Father who is a signatory of all four of the major documents of the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris and the United States Constitution.
  In 1787, a group of prominent ministers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, proposed the foundation of a new college named in Franklin's honor. Franklin donated £200 towards the development of Franklin College (now called Franklin & Marshall College).
  Between 1771 and 1788, he finished his autobiography. While it was at first addressed to his son, it was later completed for the benefit of mankind at the request of a friend.
  Franklin strongly supported the right to freedom of speech:
  In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech ...
  Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech, which is the right of every man ...
  — Silence Dogood no. 8, 1722
caption: Gouverneur Morris signs the Constitution before Washington. Franklin is behind Morris. Painting by Hintermeister, 1925.[169]
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